Ve Neill Scholarship: The Results Are In!

Makeup Legend Ve Neill and CMS Director of Admissions Lee Joyner review materials

After long deliberation and input from a panel of top makeup professionals and instructors, Cinema Makeup School—the premiere makeup training institution in the world—and Fangoria magazine have chosen Anna Cichon, a Polish national living in London, England, to receive their  $10,000 Legends of Makeup Scholarship.

This year’s prize was named for Ve Neill, a three-time Academy Award winner and eight-time nominee. Ve’s work appears in such films as Beetlejuice, Mrs. Doubtfire, Edward Scissorhands, The Pirates of the Caribbean series, and The Hunger Games, and she regularly appears as a judge on SyFy Network’s FaceOff. Ve herself selected Anna from a pool of finalists.

“I’m very excited and honored to be a part of the Legends of Makeup Scholarship,” said Ve. “And I would like to congratulate Anna and applaud her beautiful work.”

To make the finalist pool, Anna’s work was selected from submissions from all over the world by a panel of top makeup artists and CMS instructors.

“We had such a hard time choosing the winner of the Legends of Makeup Scholarship this year,” said Lee Joyner, Director of Admissions at CMS and a panelist. “There was a large amount of fantastic applications from around the world. It’s always hard finding the final winner, and Ve and the Scholarship Panel thought long and hard on this difficult choice.”

Still, Anna’s work managed to stand out.

“Dedication and passion for the art of makeup and all of its facets are two of the main attributes of a fine artist,” said Leonard Engelman, the Governor of the Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch of AMPAS, who chaired the panel. “[Anna] obviously has both of these.”

Panelists hard at work (L-R): Kevin Brennan, Craig Reardon, Lee Joyner, Mike Spatola and Leonard Engelman

Anna (pronounced Ahn-YA) originally hails from Poland. That is where she began pursuing makeup work five years ago before moving to London in 2011 to try to break into the British film industry. In her young career, Anna has already had work featured in Makeup Artist Magazine and assisted on multiple feature films. Anna plans to use the scholarship to attend CMS’s Master Makeup Program and take advanced courses to expand her already impressive skill set.  

The other finalists will not be walking away empty-handed. Due to the quality of the work submitted, CMS has decided to extend three additional $1,000 scholarship offers to Angela Davis (Advance, NC), Margaret Caragan (Oakland, CA) and Lakey Yonglei (Shanghai, China).

Next time you see Anna, she’ll be at the School’s booth at Pasadena IMATS alongside her CMS classmates and instructors.

“Utilizing our state-of-the-art curriculum, [Anna] will be immersed in a world of advanced training and one-of-a-kind networking,” said Lee. “We’re excited to have her here at CMS.”

Speaking to Anna, Ve continued to offer the young artist praise. “You have a great start on being a top-notch makeup artist across the board. We all look forward to seeing your progress.”

While Anna celebrates her achievement, all eyes will turn to next year’s scholarship contest. Ve Neill will again lend her name and expertise to the 2013 award and competition is sure to be stiffer than ever.

For Anna, however, the journey is just beginning. “Cinema Makeup School will be life-changing to me...I need to learn more to keep up with the competition and pursue a career working with something my heart beats for.”

We’re excited for you, Anna! Check below for some images of Anna's winning work.

CMS Classes Tour Some of the Industry’s Best FX Labs

Last Monday, CMS Students got the chance to tour two legendary Special Effects Shops: The Character Shop and ADI. Sounds like the coolest field trip that we’ve ever heard of!

CMS Intern, and Dick Smith Scholarship Recipient, Wayne Anderson gives us his report:    

Our first stop was at Rick Lazzarini’s “The Character Shop” where they specialize in animatronic animals, puppets, robots, creatures and characters. Feature films [they’ve done] include Aliens, Mimic, Snakes on a Plane, Nightmare on Elm Street, Ghostbusters II,  and many, many more. They’ve also worked on a pile of commercials for major companies like Cadbury chocolate, DiGiorno pizza, Sprint and Budweiser.  

Rick Lazzarini shows us an animatronic Puma. Foam latex is used for the skin of the Puma and the skull is made out of vacuform plastic, the whole thing’s hollow so Rick can run all the cables and servos. Rick used radio controls to give the Puma life. Just the head can be outfitted with 20 plus servos! Rick explained how the radio controller transmits to the servos that pull and push cables to give the puma expressions.

In the front you can see the “Foster Imposters,” a pair of goofy chicken character puppets from TV spots for Foster Farms. On the upper shelf are a grinning trio of “Desperate Hyenas” from Cadbury ads. The hyenas have rod-controlled head and legs, with animatronic facial expressions .

Just looking around the Character shop you’ll be inspired to start creating your own animatronic puppet! 

Next stop was ADI. ADI is known for animatronics, animals, specialty costumes, makeup and human replicas.  Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr. are the owners of ADI. You can see their work in some of the biggest hit movies like: AVP: Alien vs. Predator , Death Becomes Her (Academy Award Winner), ALIEN 3 (Academy Award Nominee), Hollow Man ( Academy Award Nominee), and Starship Troopers (Academy Award Nominee). We couldn’t take many photos at ADI because they’re working on a new movie that is strictly confidential.

As CMS students arrived, we signed disclosure agreements and handed over our cameras so pictures were limited.

We did get to snap one shot of the Predator bust from AVP and models of the Aliens to its right.

We had a really great time at both shops! The pros were very nice, super knowledgeable and happy to answer all of our questions! 

-W.A.

Rick Lazarrini, via Twitter, had even higher praise for Wayne and the rest of the group from CMS:

“It was AWESOME! Lots of talented and interested students with great questions took the tour. Hope to see ‘em in the workplace!”

CMS Team Helps A Place Called Home Turn Inner City Girls into ‘Cinderella’ for Prom

The CMS Team (from L-R): Danielle, Audrey, and Martha

On April 27th and 28th, CMS Instructor Wendy Ann Rosen and a group of dedicated students hit A Place Called Home’s youth center in South LA to take part in the annual Cinderella Project.

The Cinderella Project is an annual volunteer drive for at-risk teenage girls that, according to the center, “not only gifts them with a beautiful gown, but also empowers them to develop their inner-beauty and esteem through signing up for volunteer opportunities that will make a tangible difference in their communities.”

The CMS team helped teach the girls makeup techniques to complete the look with their newly donated gowns and shoes and prepare them for prom.

“It was awesome” says Martha Sanchez, a CMS graduate who worked at the event. “It sort of reminded me of when I used to be a cosmetic trainer for L’Oréal USA, in terms of coaching and demonstrating.” 

Wendy Ann also had a glowing review of the event, and added that she might invite some of the girls to participate in her CMS class as models in the future.

   

Register for Advanced Classes Today!

Call today or email info@cinemamakeup.com to register or request info.

CMS advanced classes are one week long and focus on specific professional skills.

Upcoming classes:

5/14/12

Digital FX w/ Tim Turner

Creature Maquette w/ Don Lanning

5/14/12 (night)

ZBrush w/ Kevin Brennan

Cinema Makeup School Takes Over Monsterpalooza 2012

"For the past three years Monsterpalooza has been a great catalyst for connecting generations in the makeup industry as well as providing a pedestal to showcase many talented artists' work" says Cinema Makeup School graduate, Cris Sposito. She is not the only one that sees Monsterpalooza as a Mecca for all things horror, gore, and fantasy. Monsterpalooza is the industry's largest horror convention and year after year Cinema Makeup School manages to surprise and amaze attendees. 2012 was no exception.

Monsterpalooza is the ideal place for celebrations of films past, celebrity sightings, and glimpses of inspiration to come. Cinema Makeup School joined in all the creepy fun with a variety of demonstrations.

Now enjoy some photos from the weekend...

 

CMS Graduate Tara Lang turning Dave Felstead into the "London after Midnight" vampire.

Dave getting his lower eyelids glued down in preparation for the character.

 Applying the face prosthetic

Tara coloring the foam latex appliance.

Fitting the teeth with wires pulling his lips up.

Tara comparing her makeup with the original design

Tara with her makeup tribute to Lon Chaney.

 

Tara Lang and Dave Felstead with CMS Director Lee Joyner.

Tara Lang and her creature at the booth of the Chaney family 

( from the left: Jennifer Chaney, Tara Lang, Dave Felstead, Jaclynn Chaney and Ron Chaney)

The finished makeup.

CMS graduate and intern Christine Thompson modeling again for CMS Graduate Miranda Jory. Here she is drying her eye screen covers.

Miranda Jory pulling over the head piece. CMS Director Lee Joyner helping out.

Gluing down the parts. The Chest appliance is in place.

Head and chest appliances are in place and coloring is on it's way.

Miranda airbrushing more detail.

Stop for a quick interview...

Up close and personal with the creature...

Creature with finished paint job.

Miranda posing with her creation.

CMS Student Josh McCarron is ready to become a monster, modeling for his fellow student Wayne Anderson 

Applying the foam latex chin piece.

Wayne is gluing down the second face appliance.

Applying the prosthetic arm sleeves.

Every good monster needs claws...

Wayne starting on the paint job.

The finished makeup!

The back of the head had LED lights implemented and gave an internal glow...

Wayne Anderson and his creation.

Mutant romance - Wayne's beast getting cozy with Miranda's creature...

Ralis Kahn doing a makeup demo

The finished creation.

CMS Instructor Ralis Kahn doing his blood demo. He is assisted by CMS Graduate Simpat Beshirian.

As you see in the background...things got a little messy...

All in all it was a great weekend, with lots of surprises and fun. Thanks to all who stopped by the booth

Ve Neill Scholarship Selection Underway

The legendary Leonard Engelman (foreground) and the panel review student portfolios. 

A panel of CMS’s top instructors, administrators and other makeup professionals met today to discuss submissions for the Ve Neill Legends of Makeup Scholarship. The panel—chaired by the great Leonard Engelman, Governor of the Makeup Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences—had the tough task of whittling down all of the worthy portfolio submissions to just five finalists.

The finalists’ work will next go to the $10,000 scholarship’s namesake, Oscar and BAFTA-winning Hollywood makeup artist Ve Neill (Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Hunger Games), who will personally select the winner.

The final choice will be made by the end of May. Judging by the quality of all the submissions, it will be a tough decision!

Members of the panel work together to decide on finalists.

 Panelists (from L-R) Kevin Brennan, Craig Reardon,
Lee Joyner, Mike Spatola, and Leonard Engelman review samples.